Michael, a 20-year-old RMIT University student who does not want his last name published, is one of the founders of the page and said photos will only be removed upon request.

“If you want us to remove a photo we will take it down immediately but otherwise, we choose what pictures are hot,” he told Catalyst.

Students are encouraged to submit photos to the social media page, but Michael doesn’t seek permission from the people in the photos before publishing them. He also said he can’t stop others from tagging people.

Tristen* said her friend submitted her photo and she was shocked at the comments it received.

“At first I was happy that I was chosen but I was soon annoyed at the activity around my photo,” she said.

“Even though it’s not intended, women are judged on their looks and people forget that we’re still people.”

The founders of the page said it was set up to compete with similar pages of rival universities.

The Real Hotties of RMIT had around 1800 likes at the time of publishing, while Monash and Melbourne’s equivalent pages have more than 10,000.

“It’s great competition to other universities who think they are better,” Michael said.

Michael said when the page was originally created, he wanted to post photos of “different types” of RMIT students but the founders of RMIT Stalker Space recommended a strict “screening process”.

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